Alumni in Action: Jesse Aaronson
Jesse Aaronson (Cherry Creek High School, 2014) recently sat down with Eaglecrest senior Liana Walker to talk about his career journey, how CCSD helped prepare him to perform on Broadway, and his advice for success during and after high school.
What is your favorite show that you’ve worked on?
I made my Broadway debut in a Tom Stoppard play called “Leopoldstadt” in 2022. It was his last play before he passed and it’s somewhat autobiographical and it’s this epic family portrait about assimilation and World War II and identity. As a huge fan of Stoppard and a Jewish person, it was a dream come true. You never bank on making it to Broadway. You can set your intention, but it isn’t a guarantee. So every day I would walk under the marquee through the stage door, and think, “this is so cool."
What was one of your most memorable experiences at CCHS?
We got to take our production of "Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat" to Thescon. Our director at the time, Jimmer Miller, made us all dress up in costume - nobody else dressed up, but we did a processional into the theater and got to perform it on the stage of the Buell. And we started so high at the beginning of the night, and with each category we lost, we became more and more dejected…until we won "Best Musical," and that was incredible.
How did that experience prepare you for Broadway?
I remember the first night on Broadway, the curtain was going up, and I remember thinking, "This is exactly like being at Creek." Just because it’s Broadway doesn’t mean there’s any difference in the fundamentals. Being at a Cherry Creek school where there’s so much support for the arts, you feel very prepared.
What advice do you have for students to prepare for college?
If you can handle the trials and tribulations of a large high school in Cherry Creek Schools, you can handle anything. Everyone on day one will be in the same boat as you. It’s such general advice, but if you lead with an open heart and an open mind, there’s nothing that can stop you.
How do you adapt to the small class sizes we have at CCSD to larger classes at college?
When you have the opportunity to take a small class, that’s a great opportunity to make connections and deepen the experience. When you have to take these giant lecture classes, you’re probably not making a community, but take advantage of the professor’s office hours. It’s a great way to make that anonymous experience more personal.
How do you balance college theater with the rest of the college experience?
This is maybe bad advice – and if someone gives you different advice, it’s just as valid – but say yes to everything. If you can say yes to as many opportunities as you can, without stretching yourself too thin, you should.
You were on an episode of “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.” What was that like?
I was on Season 25, episode 6. It was a really cool experience. It was my first TV experience and it was like stepping into a machine – not in an impersonal way, but all of the cast and crew have been doing that job for decades. So they’re plugging in these guest stars, and it was such a cool experience. I was just trying to soak it all up and learn on the fly.
Jesse also had some questions for Liana about what high school theater is like today.
We didn’t really have social media when I was in high school. What is it like now?
When we have a show coming up, we play promo videos in our advisory. Our publicity crew films those videos and we have an active Tik Tok and Instagram throughout the year. We have some videos that promote the show, but then videos that also promote being in theater and in this community.
How does that expand your audience? Do you end up having football players come to the shows?
We have a football player in “Music Man!” He’s in our cast and he brought his friend to do set. They said they’re planning on the entire team coming to watch it, so we’ll have to take out an entire section of our theater.